Part of Westall School roof torn off as storm rips through Fall River

Resiliency Preparatory School students will have a day off today after Thursday morning’s stormy weather blew the roof off the building housing the school.

In the meantime, city officials are reviewing potential places to relocate the city’s alternative high school after a 30-by-40-foot hole was exposed in the roof and the school suffered significant water damage.

Will Richmond

Resiliency Preparatory School students will have a day off today after Thursday morning’s stormy weather blew the roof off the building housing the school.

In the meantime, city officials are reviewing potential places to relocate the city’s alternative high school after a 30-by-40-foot hole was exposed in the roof and the school suffered significant water damage.

Mayor Will Flanagan said early Thursday that he was in talks with Community Maintenance Director Kenneth Pacheco, City Administrator Shawn Cadime and school department Chief Operating Officer Thomas Coogan about where to relocate the school’s students and staff. He said it was determined that either the former Wiley Elementary school on North Main Street or the former Dubuque Elementary School on Oak Grove Avenue are the most likely locations.

While both schools are currently vacant, Superintendent Meg Mayo-Brown said the Dubuque location is unavailable because of a collapsed floor and ceiling. She said the city’s code enforcement director, Joseph Biszko, has cleared use of the Wiley school, but Mayo-Brown said it was undetermined as to how soon the building — which is currently used as storage space for the school department — could be occupied.

Flanagan said Thursday morning that he was not sure how long the Westall Elementary School, which was opened in 1908, would be unavailable. Mayo-Brown said she expected the school would not be used again during the current school year.

“That school is going to be out of commission for a significant amount of time,” Flanagan said.

Mayo-Brown said officials are still searching for a short-term solution until a replacement for the school can be found.

According to Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary records, 203 students are enrolled in the school.

Flanagan’s comments came after city building inspectors reviewed the damage at the Westall building after a section of the roof was blown off the building Thursday morning.

Biszko said he was called to the school on Maple Street around 7:30 a.m. Upon inspection, Biszko said a significant portion of the nearly 30-by-40-foot roofing section that was blown from the building landed in a neighboring yard. In addition to the roof itself, Biszko said, a thin layer of materials, insulation and roof rafters were also pulled from the building.

He said without the roof in place the building also sustained significant water damage.

“Not only is a portion of the roof gone, but there was a significant amount of rain that entered the building,” Biszko said. “That is going to cause the hardwood floors to buckle, and not just the three or four rooms on the top floor are going to be affected, but the rooms under that will be. It’s not just the roof, it’s all the damage inside. There was a lot of water in there.”

School department custodians were trying to salvage equipment from the building Thursday morning.

Biszko said the building is repairable, but he expects it to be costly.

The Westall school was one of two buildings to suffer significant damage due to Thursday morning’s weather, fire department officials said.

Fall River Fire Lt. William Powers said there were several small, localized power outages caused by tree branches falling on power lines.

“National Grid was scrambling all night,” Powers said.

Fall River firefighters responded to several overnight calls of downed power lines to make sure no fires broke out. Firefighters stayed on scene until National Grid work crews arrived to turn off the power.

Other than part of the school roof being blow off and the tree falling onto a house in the 900 block of Highland Avenue, Powers said there were no other major weather-related incidents that occurred overnight.

Biszko said he also inspected the damage on Highland Avenue.

“That house suffered some damage. They were lucky they weren’t killed,” Biszko said. “I’ve seen trees down on houses before, but nothing like this.”

Email Will Richmond at wrichmond@heraldnews.com. Have photos of storm damage in your area? Email them to news@heraldnews.com.

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